ESTC - Elastic Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2024 Financial Results

Q4 Revenue of $335 million, up 20% year-over-year (20% in constant currency)

Q4 Elastic Cloud Revenue of $148 million, up 32% year-over-year (32% in constant currency)

FY24 Revenue of $1.267 billion, up 19% year-over-year (18% in constant currency)

Elastic (NYSE: ESTC) (“Elastic”), the Search AI Company, announced financial results for its fourth quarter and full fiscal year ended April 30, 2024.

Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2024 Financial Highlights

• Total revenue was $335 million, an increase of 20% year-over-year, as reported and on a constant currency basis
• Elastic Cloud revenue was $148 million, an increase of 32% year-over-year, as reported and on a constant currency basis
• GAAP operating loss was $46 million; GAAP operating margin was -14%
• Non-GAAP operating income was $29 million; non-GAAP operating margin was 9%
• GAAP net loss per share was $0.41; non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $0.21
• Operating cash flow was $61 million with adjusted free cash flow of $60 million
• Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities were $1.084 billion as of April 30, 2024

Full Fiscal 2024 Financial Highlights

• Total revenue was $1.267 billion, an increase of 19% year-over-year, or 18% on a constant currency basis
• Elastic Cloud revenue was $548 million, an increase of 29% year-over-year as reported and on a constant currency basis
• GAAP operating loss was $130 million; GAAP operating margin was -10%
• Non-GAAP operating income was $142 million; non-GAAP operating margin was 11%
• GAAP diluted earnings per share was $0.59 ⁽¹⁾ ; non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $1.19
• Operating cash flow was $149 million with adjusted free cash flow of $169 million

“Elastic delivered another strong quarter and a great finish to the fiscal year,” said Ash Kulkarni, CEO, Elastic. “The strong and sustained adoption we are seeing for our Generative AI capabilities and our continued ability to differentiate and win in search, security and observability with our Search AI Platform reinforces our confidence in the enduring strength of our business.”

Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2024 Key Metrics and Recent Business Highlights

Key Customer Metrics

• Total customer count with Annual Contract Value (ACV) greater than $100,000 was over 1,330 compared to over 1,270 in Q3 FY24, and over 1,160 in Q4 FY23
• Total subscription customer count was approximately 21,000 compared to approximately 20,800 in Q3 FY24, and approximately 20,200 in Q4 FY23
• Net Expansion Rate was approximately 110%

Product Innovations and Updates

• Introduced first-of-its-kind Search AI Lake, a cloud native architecture to scale low latency search with all of Elastic’s AI capabilities
• Launched the technical preview of Elastic Cloud Serverless for search, including retrieval augmented generation, observability, and security workloads
• Announced Attack Discovery, an AI-driven security analytics solution for the modern SOC, combining search and retrieval augmented generation to prioritize attacks, not alerts
• Added support for Cohere high-performance vector embeddings and Rerank 3 model
• Delivered native support for the Elasticsearch vector database on Azure AI Studio
• Expanded Azure Open AI support with chat completions and embeddings support
• Introduced new detection rules to help customers protect against LLM risks and delivered an LLM Safety Assessment: The Definitive Guide on Avoiding Risk and Abuses guide, which explores LLM safety and provides attack mitigation best practices and suggested countermeasures

Other Business Highlights

• Awarded Google Cloud Partner of the Year for the fourth time
• Named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in the enterprise category for the AI-enabled Elasticsearch Relevance Engine
• Engaged with thousands of customers and partners at Google Cloud Next, RSA, Microsoft Build and hosted ElasticON events at Chicago, New York, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Toronto, and Washington DC

Financial Outlook

The Company is providing the following guidance:

For the first quarter of fiscal 2025 (ending July 31, 2024):

• Total revenue is expected to be between $343 million and $345 million, representing 17% year-over-year growth at the midpoint (17% year-over-year constant currency growth at the midpoint)
• Non-GAAP operating margin is expected to be between 9.2% and 9.4%
• Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share is expected to be between $0.24 and $0.26, assuming between 105.5 million and 106.5 million diluted weighted average ordinary shares outstanding

For fiscal 2025 (ending April 30, 2025):

• Total revenue is expected to be between $1.468 billion and $1.480 billion, representing 16% year-over-year growth at the midpoint (16% year-over-year constant currency growth at the midpoint)
• Non-GAAP operating margin is expected to be between 11.7% and 12.3%
• Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share is expected to be between $1.35 and $1.47, assuming between 107.0 million and 109.0 million diluted weighted average ordinary shares outstanding

The guidance assumes, among others, the following exchange rates: 1 Euro = 1.081 US Dollars; and 1 Great British Pound = 1.270 US Dollars.

See the section titled “Forward-Looking Statements” below for information on the factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. We present historical and forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures in addition to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. See the section entitled “Statement Regarding Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for an explanation of these non-GAAP measures. A reconciliation of forward-looking non-GAAP measures to the corresponding GAAP measures for operating margin and net earnings/(loss) per share is not available without unreasonable effort due to the uncertainty regarding, and the potential variability of, many of the costs and expenses that may be incurred in the future. These items necessary to reconcile such non-GAAP measures could be material and have a significant impact on the Company’s results computed in accordance with GAAP.

Conference Call and Webcast

Elastic’s executive management team will host a conference call today at 2:00 p.m. PT/5:00 p.m. ET to discuss the Company’s financial results and business outlook. A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available through Elastic’s Investor Relations website at ir.elastic.co. A presentation containing financial and operating information will be available at the same website. The replay of the webcast will also be available on the investor relations website.

⁽¹⁾ GAAP diluted earnings per share includes the impact of an income tax benefit of approximately $211 million related to the release of a valuation allowance against certain deferred tax assets. There was no impact to operating results, non-GAAP diluted earnings per share, adjusted free cash flow or cash and cash equivalents.

About Elastic

Elastic (NYSE: ESTC), the Search AI Company, enables everyone to find the answers they need in real-time using all their data, at scale. Elastic’s solutions for search, observability and security are built on the Elastic Search AI Platform, the development platform used by thousands of companies, including more than 50% of the Fortune 500. Learn more at elastic.co.

Elastic and associated marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Elastic N.V. and its subsidiaries. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties, which include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our expected financial results for the fiscal quarter ending July 31, 2024 and the fiscal year ending April 30, 2025, the expected performance or benefits of our offerings, expected market opportunities, and our ability to execute on those market opportunities. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements due to uncertainties, risks, and changes in circumstances, including but not limited to those related to: our future financial performance, including our expectations regarding our revenue, cost of revenue, gross profit or gross margin, operating expenses (which include changes in sales and marketing, research and development and general and administrative expenses), and our ability to achieve and maintain future profitability; our ability to continue to deliver and improve our offerings and develop new offerings (including innovations around AI use cases); customer acceptance and purchase of our new and existing offerings; the expansion and adoption of our Elastic Cloud offerings; our ability to realize value from investments in the business; our ability to maintain and expand our user and customer base; the impact of the evolving macroeconomic and geopolitical environments on our business, operations, hiring and financial results, and on businesses and spending priorities of our customers and partners; the impact of our pricing model strategies on our business; the impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations and the uncertain inflation and interest rate environment on our results; our international expansion strategy; our operating results and cash flows; the sufficiency of our capital resources; our ability to successfully execute our go-to-market strategy, our forecasts regarding our business; and general market, political, economic and business conditions.

Any additional or unforeseen effect from the evolving macroeconomic and geopolitical environments may exacerbate these risks. Additional risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements are included in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2023 and subsequent reports filed with the SEC. SEC filings are available on the Investor Relations section of Elastic’s website at ir.elastic.co and the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov . Elastic assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update any such forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Statement Regarding Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to our results determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, we believe the non-GAAP measures listed below are useful in evaluating our operating performance. We use these non-GAAP financial measures to evaluate our ongoing operations and for internal planning and forecasting purposes. We believe that non-GAAP financial information, when taken collectively, may be helpful to investors because it provides consistency and comparability with past financial performance. However, non-GAAP financial information is presented for supplemental informational purposes only, has limitations as an analytical tool and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. In addition, other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate similarly-titled non-GAAP measures differently or may use other measures to evaluate their performance, all of which could reduce the usefulness of our non-GAAP financial measures as tools for comparison. Investors are cautioned that there are a number of limitations associated with the use of non-GAAP financial measures and key metrics as analytical tools. Investors are encouraged to review the differences between GAAP financial measures and the corresponding non-GAAP financial measures, and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.

Reconciliations of historical GAAP financial measures to their respective historical non-GAAP financial measures are included below. In relation to constant currency non-GAAP financial measures, the only reconciling item between GAAP financial measures and non-GAAP financial measures is the effect of foreign currency rate fluctuations. Further details on how we calculate such effects can be found in the definition of “Constant Currency” below.

Non-GAAP Gross Profit and Non-GAAP Gross Margin

We define non-GAAP gross profit and non-GAAP gross margin as GAAP gross profit and GAAP gross margin, respectively, excluding stock-based compensation expense and related employer taxes and amortization of acquired intangible assets. We believe non-GAAP gross profit and non-GAAP gross margin provide our management and investors consistency and comparability with our past financial performance and facilitate period-to-period comparisons of operations, as these metrics generally eliminate the effects of certain variables from period to period for reasons unrelated to overall operating performance.

Non-GAAP Operating Income and Non-GAAP Operating Margin

We define non-GAAP operating income and non-GAAP operating margin as GAAP operating loss and GAAP operating margin, respectively, excluding stock-based compensation expense and related employer taxes, amortization of acquired intangible assets, acquisition-related expenses, and restructuring and other related charges. We believe non-GAAP operating income and non-GAAP operating margin provide our management and investors consistency and comparability with our past financial performance and facilitate period-to-period comparisons of operations, as these metrics generally eliminate the effects of certain variables from period to period for reasons unrelated to overall operating performance.

Non-GAAP Net Income and Non-GAAP Earnings Per Share

We define non-GAAP net income as GAAP income/(loss), excluding stock-based compensation expense and related employer taxes, amortization of acquired intangible assets, acquisition-related expenses, restructuring and other related charges, one-time litigation settlements, the related income tax effect of the foregoing adjustments, and the income tax benefit from the release of any valuation allowance against deferred tax assets. We define non-GAAP earnings per share, basic, as non-GAAP net income divided by weighted average shares outstanding and non-GAAP earnings per share, diluted, as non-GAAP net income divided by weighted average diluted shares outstanding, which includes the potentially dilutive effect of the company’s employee equity incentive plan awards. We believe non-GAAP earnings per share provides our management and investors consistency and comparability with our past financial performance and facilitates period-to-period comparisons of operations, as this metric generally eliminates the effects of certain variables from period to period for reasons unrelated to overall operating performance.

Adjusted Free Cash Flow and Adjusted Free Cash Flow Margin

Adjusted free cash flow is a non-GAAP financial measure that we define as net cash provided by operating activities adjusted for cash paid for interest less cash used for investing activities for purchases of property and equipment. Adjusted free cash flow margin is calculated as adjusted free cash flow divided by total revenue. Adjusted free cash flow does not represent residual cash flow available for discretionary expenditures since, among other things, we have mandatory debt service requirements.

Constant Currency

We compare the percent change in certain results from one period to another period using constant currency information to provide a framework for assessing how our business performed excluding the effect of foreign currency rate fluctuations. In presenting this information, current and comparative prior period results are converted into United States dollars at the exchange rates in effect on the last day of our prior fiscal year, rather than the actual exchange rates in effect during the respective periods.

Contact Information

Anthony Luscri
Elastic Investor Relations
ir@elastic.co

Madge Miller
Elastic Corporate Communications
PR-Team@elastic.co